Question

A two digit number which is both a perfect square and a cube is ________

Answer 1

Answer:

A two digit number which is both a perfect square and cube is 64..

Answer 2

Answer:

There are plenty of ways to do this puzzle. One way is to list out all the square numbers with two digits: 16, 25, 36, 49, 64, 81.

Then list out all the cube numbers with two digits: 27, 64.

The answer is the only number in both lists: 64.

There’s a trickier way to solve this puzzle too, which makes it easier to solve the challenge question. It relies on a maths fact: if you multiply two squares together, you get a square! If you’re not sure about this fact, try a few examples to see if you can work out what’s going on.

We’re going to start with a square, and use it to make a square that is also a cube. Let’s start with a small square: 4.

We know 4 x 4 = 16 is a square from the fact above, and

also because of what a square means. But we can go one step further. 4 x 16 = 64 is the product of two squares, so it is also a square. But you can also write it as 64 = 4 x 4 x 4, making it a cube.

Using this method we can work out the next square that is a cube by repeating this process. This time, start with the next smallest square: 9. First, 9 x 9 = 81.

9 x 81 = 729, is the product of two squares, so it is also a square. You can also write it as 729 = 9 x 9 x 9, making it a cube.

Therefore the answer to the challenge is 729.